Guiding workplace learning in vocational education and training: A literature review

This review provides an overview of the empirical research concerning guidance in the context of vocational education and training (VET). The study examines practices, providers and supporting and hindering factors related to guidance and learning at the workplace. After the inclusion/exclusion process, the final number of research articles included in this review is 18. Results show strong evidence for the collective nature of workplace guidance, with the entire work community providing learners with guidance and assistance. Guidance provided to VET students at workplaces seems to relate strongly to the activities of the members of communities of practice. Guidance provided by the members of communities of practice opens up opportunities for learners to participate in collective practices by gradually assuming more responsibility and more demanding tasks as their skills develop. The learner’s self-regulative skills, such as responsibility and the ability to take the initiative and to actively seek guidance, affect how guidance is afforded to him/her in the work community during training. Furthermore, these skills may also determine the learner’s prospects for developing expertise in future workplaces.


Introduction
• Interest in workplace learning has grown in recent decades due to the changing character of work and the acknowledgement of the workplace as a learning environment (e.g. Fuller andUnwin 2003, 2011;Illeris 2003). • Workplace learning is often considered incidental or informal, even if it could instead be seen as non-formal with different levels of intention to learn, including implicit, reactive and deliberate learning (Eraut 2004). • Alternatively, one can regard all learning experiences as intentional because they aim at ensuring the continuity of social and work practices (Billett 2002b). • Ethnographic field studies on apprenticeships by Lave and Wenger (1991) suggest that learning happens in everyday interactions and through participation in communities of practice. 20.9.2017 8

Workplace learning
• The theory by Lave and Wenger (1991) has been criticized as it neglects guidance and formal education, and is based on the idea that skills, knowledges and practices are passed on to novices. • By doing this, the theory ignores the reciprocity of learning and the continuation of learning even after a full membership in a community of practice has been obtained (Fuller, Hodkinson, H., Hodkinson, P., and Unwin, 2005 • Scaffolding and fading [4] • Observation and demonstrations [3] • Independent work and experimentation [3] 20.9.2017 16 Results: Who provides guidance at the workplace? •  • The survey data was analysed with traditional nonparametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests), but also Bayesian discrete methods were applied as those allow robust dependency and classification analysis of small categorical data (Myllymäki, Silander, Tirri, & Uronen, 2002;Nokelainen & Ruohotie, 2009  Versatile and challenging work tasks in collaboration with other workers and receiving feedback (WLE dimension 2) were positively related to experiences of getting various forms of support in the workplace (WLE dimension 3.).

Figure 1. Bayesian Network of the dimensions of Workplace as Learning Environment
Results RQ2: How learner and contextual factors (age) are related to interpreting workplace as learning environment?
• Younger apprentices (below 35 years) self-reported to have less participation and understanding of the actions in the workplace than participants in two other age cohorts (35-44 and over 45 years), χ 2 (2)=7.975, p=.010. • Older apprentices (over 34 years) felt that they were treated more like co-workers than the younger ones, χ 2 (2)=7.885, p=.019.
• Individual level: Development of vocational expertise through learning -Learning is considered self-directed, requiring individuals to take initiative and being responsible for their learning.
• Individual level: Tasks related to work -Social and health care sector: Fast transition to full participants, autonomous work and responsible work tasks -Technology sector: Slower transition to productive work through low-risk and easy tasks (safety issues, quality issues in production) 20 "I see them [apprentices] as employees. I think they can this work, because these tasks are based on common sense. And the clients are quite easy, so it is easy to cooperate with them. We don't have any challenging tasks." (Co-worker, social sector) Results RQ3: How is learning organized in workplaces?
• Environment level: Workplace as learning environment -Social and health care sector: multi-professional co-operation and interaction (opportunities for feedback, assessment through discussions), collective support and trust, apprentices having an equal position in community. -Technology sector: supervision, tensions between young apprentices and more experienced workers, designating trainer and assessments merely a bureaucratic matter. A mixed methods approach on workplaces as learning environments "Maybe during the first month she was more like a student. Now she is part of the staff like others. She is doing exactly same things, except from medication. I see her in an equal position with us. We haven't made a fuss over her being a student." • The study was based on self-report data, also WLE has its limitations • To better understand the differences between different sectors and different kind of workplaces more qualitative data is needed (more about differences see e.g. Virtanen, 2013) • The wider context of apprenticeship training should be further researched (e.g. the role of the teachers in relation to workplaces)